Kasztanka, Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski's favorite combat mare, was stuffed upon her death in 1927 and after World War II was destroyed, allegedly on the orders of Piłsudski's enemy, Marshal Michał Rola-Żymierski.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

That Hideous Act

After doing too little too late as far as kick starting the economy, expanding a war in Afghanistan, refusing to investigate the use of torture indeed refusing to end torture, leaving the economy in the hands of the same thieves that brought us to these dire straits in the first place, and leaving the wars in the hands of the Generals thereby effectively leaving our foreign policy in the hands of a bunch of jocks who never emotionally made it out of high school, and leaving health care reform in the hands of the people that have the least interest in implementing it and every reason not to, Obama now extends the Patriot Act for another year.

So I keep wondering what it will take, what unimaginable benighted horrendous act committed by Obama will shake the faith of the faithful. The reason I wonder is because I can’t imagine what horrible deed might be left undone by our progressive peace president though I shouldn’t say things like that because it does tempt fate. Things can always get worse no matter how many times we think we have reached rock bottom. Obama is living proof of this.

The huge irony of the Patriot Act is that after the government has led us into one fraudulent war after another, stolen our money, and stood aside while our jobs were shipped overseas the government has the gall to say it doesn’t trust us. That’s just a bit too much for me.

3 Comments:

"So I keep wondering what it will take, what unimaginable benighted horrendous act committed by Obama will shake the faith of the faithful."

You keep wanting to make it personal. The Patriot Act was extended by the same coalition that has been passing this stuff for decades: a coalition of most Republicans and "moderate" Democrats. Same folks who loosened up Glass-Steagall and got all those trade bills through in the Clinton era. Most Americans didn't notice the massive expansion of the NSA's powers in the 90s. But does anyone think that they wouldn't have happened under ("former" CIA Director) Bush I or, ahem, third-party candidate ("former" intelligence asset) Ross Perot?

That alone should suggest that something bigger than who is living in the White House is the reason why no matter who we vote for we get something else.

If everyone who supported Obama in 2008 suddenly renounced and denounced him, where do they go in a two-party system? And who would report it and what would the talking heads tell us it really means?

As one disgusted poster in the SF Chronic wrote of Obama's flipflop on the Patriot Act, "At least he was against it before he was for it". Because the choice in America is Obama versus Palin or some other Republican who may actually bring us death panels along with tax cuts for the wealthy. And if Obama does bring us death panels, he'll probably be apologetic about it and at least have greeters like they do at Walmart.

That's why I suggest an analysis of the actual system of governance in America and not waste our time getting into scuffles in the theater lobby.

The government didn't stand aside while jobs were shipped overseas. The US took an active role in outsourcing jobs with trade laws that allowed corporations to import goods without tariff for final assembly (if required) and final sale, and also by encouraging US ambassadors to assist US corporations to outsource manufacturing as compensation for foreign military sales.